Middle East

By the time we pulled up at the Basin on day 1, we were pretty tired. Hiking around the desert and scrabbling up and down rocks in 35 degree heat is no joke. We hadn’t exactly trained for this. So the idea of hiking another 800 steps up to the Monastery, having been told by any donkey handler worth their salt in business dealings that it would take 2 hours by donkey-back, was not one that thrilled us.

Fresh legs and 6 hours sleep later though, and it was a different story altogether. 800 steps? Easy. Doing it with sunscreen in your eyes? Not so much. Turns out you should really listen to the warnings on the sides of bottles – they’re there for your own good. A solid two hours later, as we began our descent, only then did the burning sting of sunscreen chemicals wear off – and only with regular helpings of water flushing via bottle cap. Ironically, sunscreen makes your eyes more susceptible to the sun. Funny that.

Have you ever been to a place where you’re welcomed like royalty? Where people talk to you out of a genuine interest to meet you, to know how you are, how your day was? Where lightly fragrant shisha is enjoyed on roof terraces overlooking two thousand year old civilisations, under starry Arabian skies? This is Petra. And the first three hours of landing in the proud desert kingdom of Jordan.